1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object managing container and managing method thereof for making a document by a word processor in an object oriented computing environment of a computer, and more particularly to an object managing container and managing method thereof which manages objects such as Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) data or `Hun-Min-Jeong-Eum` (H-M-J-E) data for supporting an OLE interface.
To be even more specific, the present invention relates to an object managing container and an object managing method which improves the efficiency of making a document through a word processor by allowing a user to visually manage moving, collecting, and arranging object data by means of using a general clipboard and a drag-and-drop capability in an object oriented computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
First of all, the word processor which will be cited as one embodiment is `Hun-Min-Jeong-Eum` (H-M-J-E) developed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
The field of an object oriented computing environment has vastly been broadened due to the improving computer technology such that it is possible to easily move an object generated from one application to another, and another application can easily use the object.
Generally, there are two methods for copying or moving an object from one file to another file.
The first method is to use a clipboard to move object data. The first step is to select an object data to be copied optionally. A copy command `copy` or a cut command `cut` from an edit menu is used to execute such process, or `Ctrl+C` or `Ctrl+X` can also be used. The second step is to open a new application to which the copied data should be moved. The final step is to paste the copied data to the new application by selecting a paste or append command from the edit menu, or `Ctrl+V` can also be used.
The second method of moving the object data is by a `drag and drop` function using OLE. The first step is to select an object data to be moved by a mouse, then move the selected data with the mouse button pressed. The second step is to move a mouse pointer to an application in which the selected object data is received. The final step is to release the mouse button when the mouse pointer is fixed at a window to which the selected object data should be moved.
For reference, the aforementioned OLE is a dynamic linking library (DLL), which is a part of Windows managing system for connecting objects from one application to another and controlling objects.
There are some problems associated with using the two methods mentioned above for managing the object data when moving the data. First, object data alone cannot be stored in a storing apparatus. In other words, a bit map or a document can only be saved in a format defined by each application. As a result, even through the object may look the same, the real format may be different. Second, the object data can only be saved by being included in a document.
The following describes the two problems mentioned above in terms of moving objects.
First of all, users cannot see what type of object is stored in a clipboard (i.e. for copying and pasting). As a result, since the users cannot verify the copied object, when a certain object is being used frequently, the user may keep copying the same object. Secondly, in the case of operating the object data by using the drag and drop function or the clipboard, a single form of object data is possible. In other words, only one object data can be stored in the clipboard. Therefore, it becomes very inefficient to form a document using many objects.
The following describes the two problems of methods for moving object data mentioned earlier in terms of managing object data.
The document, which includes the object, only has a function related to the document and does not have a function for managing the object data. Moreover, as a number of objects to be managed increases, the user who is using the document as an object managing container, may find it very difficult to manage such large number of object data.
The patent to Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,526, entitled Method And Apparatus For Processing A Display Document Utilizing A System Level Document Framework, discloses document processing with objects by creating a container object to hold a plurality of objects.
The patent to Nakajima, U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,791, entitled Encapsulation Of Extracted Portions Of Documents Into Objects, discloses encapsulation of scrap portions of documents into objects utilizing a clipboard, icons and drag and drop.
The patent to Morgan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,490, entitled Providing Icon Placement Alternatives For Dynamically Added Container Records, discloses a container of multiple icons grouped together in a page representing objects of stored word processing data.
The patents to Hemenway et al., Johnston Jr. et al., and Shearer et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,638,505, 5,598,524, and 5,579,521, respectively entitled Apparatus And Methods For Moving/Copying Objects Using Destination And/Or Source Bins, Method And Apparatus For Improved Manipulation Of Data Between An Application Program And The Files System On A Computer-Controlled Display System, and Conversion Of Data And Objects Across Classes In An Object Management System, each disclose data manipulation with objects and icons.
The patent to Randall, U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,662, entitled Electronic Display And Data Processing Apparatus For Displaying Text And Graphics In A Ring Binder Representation, discloses a text and graphics display using a ring binder.